Service-box closure.



ITO-832,093. PATENTED OCT. 2, 1906. B. F. STOLTZFUS.

SERVICE BOX CLOSURE. APPLICATION FILED DEO.12,1905.

10 IN" 9 a 4373 2 0 22 J6 H M M15 UNITED STATES PAT T OFFICE.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STOLTZFUS, OF LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI SERVICE-BOX CLOSURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2', 1906.

lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to closures for curbboxes, valve-boxes, hand or man holes, flues, pipes, or the like, and has for an object to provide a device of the class embodying newand improved features of strength, reliability,

simplicit and efliciency.

' size, and minor departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of A furt er object of the invention is to provide'an improved closure embodying a crossbar proportioned to engage locking notches .or recesses within the service-box, whereby the closure may be bound firmly and securely upon the box.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combina-- tion and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, shown in the accompanying drawin s, and particularly pointed out in the appenfed claims, it being understood that chan es in the form, proportion,

fetails may be made without the advantages of this invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a curb-box fitted for association with the improved closure. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional yiew positioned relative to the box, as on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a vertical sectional view as on line 3 3 of Fi 1. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the locking cross-bar.

'g'. 5. is a detail fragmentary perspective View taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Like characters of reference indicate corres onding parts in all of the figures of the rawlngs.

The im roved closure forming the subject matter 0 this application is adapted to be applied to and to c ose a large variety of openings and is here shown as applied to a our}:

box 10, having a circular opening 11. cases where the walls of the box are thin they will be thickened about the upper edge, as at- 12, and therein are formed the diametricallydisposed longitudinal slots 13. Adjacent but spaced from the slots 13 are formed the locking notches or recesses 14, substantially parallel with the slots and connected by a passage 15 circumferential to the box and slidin communicating with the bottom of the recess in such relation that the upper extreme of the recess extends above the passage.

To cover the box, a closure member 16 is provided having a screw 17 inserted axially therethrou h and with means, as the head 18, externa of the closure for engaging a tool and preferably disposed within a cavity 19. Upon the screw is mounted the cross-bar 20', having its ends ro ortioned and ositioned to slide within t e s ots 13 and to e rotated b the screw to and raised within the recess. T ough the lower end of the screw is inserted a transverse binding-pin 21, and in-- to engage upon the screw it will be found in many or most cases desirable to: provide the bar with a mortise 22, in which is placed a nut 23 of some non-rustin metal. When the use makes it desirable, t e closure will be connected with the box by a hinge, as 24, though this is not necessary to the complete and satisfactory operation of the device;

With the arts assembled as shown in Fig. 2 the crossar is seated within the lockingrecesses 14 and the closure securely locked. To unlock and open the closure, a tool is applied to head 18 and the screw turned, dropping or forcing the cross-bar downward until 1t enters the assage 15. A continued-turnin will bin the 'pin 21 against the under si e of the cross-bar and rotate the bar until the ends re ister in the slots 13, when the closure may e lifted ofl or turned back upon the-hinge, as in Fig. 3, leaving the entire opening unobstructed. To close and lock the box, the cover is returned with the cross-bar within the slots. The screw is then turne in the reverse direction, and the bar being bound by the pin is rotated therewith until it encounters the walls of the recesses 14, when a continued turning will disengage the pin from the bar and raise the bar into the repreferably be made of brass, whereby the screw will not be broken by reason of being united thereto by rust.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In a device of the character described the combination with a casing having 0 positely-disposed lon itudinal slots and a 00king-recess spaced rom and communicatin with the slots; of a closure for the casing an ada ted to conceal said slots, a screw rotatab y mounted within the closure, a crossbar en aged thereby and ada ted to be moved said screw from the s ots into the locking evices, and means upon the screw for bindin on the cross-bar.

2. In a evice of the class described a tubular casing provided internally with diametrically disposed longitudinal slots and with substantially parallel locking-recesses com municating with the slots by circumferential passages, a closure for the end of the tube, a screw inserted through the center of the closure and having a tool-engaging head upon the exterior, a cross-bar engaged upon the screw and with its opposite ends positioned to slide within the slots and move circumferentially through the assages into the recesses and means carried y the screw to contact with and move the cross-bar.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affiXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STOLTZFUS.

Witnesses:

J. A. TREST, J. M. CoNsLEY. 

